#english teachers

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[fabtastic123]

Confession time: the only reason English teachers teach The Great Gatsby is so we can continue to fuel the Nick/Gatsby ao3 tag. It is our lifeblood.

[inkcurlsandknives]

Every writer I know has had that one English teacher who encouraged thier talent and helped them find thier voice. The one they dedicate a book to or send them a signed copy years later. Meanwhile, I had Mr. Fish-Breath (name redacted, new name given because he would not stay out of female student's personal space and had the WORST fish-breath) my high school English teacher who was determined to "Shake things up" and be hip and cool by forcing us to present ted-talks and operate blogs about classic literature. He also believed in never giving A student's A's. Which as a student gunning for academic scholarships with an asian mom was a capital offence anyway. During one of his funky, fresh writing assignments that I had BUSTED MY ASS ON I went to his class after hours to try to talk my B+ into an A- because I was not bringing that shit home and TO MY FACE! He Lowered the grade and told me "Your over-effusive use of language tricked me into giving you a higher grade than you deserved." Out of PURE UNADULTERATED SPITE since that moment I have remined a deeply effusive writer, and now my lush and lyrical novel Saints of Storm and Sorrow is out in the world. So Mr. Fish-Breath can eat crow.

If there's any advice I'm willing to give out about publishing and making it as a writer, its that doing it for spite will get you just as far or farther than dreams in my experience.

[cindythecyclops]

If I see another 'english teacher overanalyzing words the author wrote when they were high' meme, I will tweak.

'What if the curtains were just blue?' BUT WHAT IF THEY WEREN'T???

What if they were blue to represent something in the scene? What if they symbolized something hidden about the narrative or the character or just that location???? WHAT THEN?

Normalize thinking critically and analyzing your media, please.

[dagwolf]

It's that time of the year where I'm grading many essays. My English 4 students are wrapping up their novels and good ole theme essays and my Eng 101 students' semester is at an end, so I'm evaluating arguments and preparing them for Eng 102.

Over the decades, I've gotten better at this. I'm a quick grader, but it takes a toll. This year I've been harping on them learning to better incorporate quotes into their work. Easier said than done. The student writer doesn't really learn until they do. They remember the rhetoric, structures, and other teachings, if they're paying attention, but until they try to practice what they've learned, they don't pick up good writing habits. I get half my students dumping quotes into essays as if quotes speak for themselves.

I get a lot of teachers worrying over student stamina and attentiveness these days. But I feel it's about the same it's always been with writing students. A few in each class shine and illustrate genuine learning and care. A good bunch reach for success but are mired in bad habits, sometimes (maybe often) taught to them by other teachers. And some just aren't writers and don't give an effort enough to flex those writing muscles. I'm not seeing that generational difference that some see.

What I do see is that we are asked as teachers and students to care more about grades than we are about discourse about the work we do and the important narratives about that work that would likely develop otherwise. I had a student today more interested in the type of A she was going to receive than interested in why she was assessed lower than she expected. (She isn't incorporating quotes well, insisting the reader make connections, and so not really mastering control of her prose.) She felt let down by her grade. I was like, hey, let's talk about your work which is over all wonderful but let's focus on where you have room to grow. The grading at this point was interfering with the opportunity to learn. Her sense of achievement not in the possibilities present in the discourse but mired in the accumulation of dead points.

And so it is with most students in high school. Even the poor student who struggles to pass has learned to focus on enough points to pass rather than to puzzle their way to better study habits in conversation with their teacher. I find it horrifying that we blame students for their perspective which I feel is daily taught to them, reinforced until they are habituated accountants.

[stew-skys-husband]

me omw to show my english teacher my Outsiders fanfiction (I'm in college)

[uwudonoodle]

[nymphpens]

Gays to their English teachers:

[bunnybeingbetter]

HE LIKED IT!!!!

*excited squeaking*

[pugh-bug]

i wonder how my college English teacher would feel about my ‘publishable level writing skills’ being used to post challengers porn for tumblr ….

[hometoursandotherstuff]

What majoring in English was like.

[muttdogz]

Why the fuck can I relate to this…

@orel-missing

[brediest-littleguy]

I fuckinf love my English teacher, shout out to her

[watchanddream]

Hello! Recently, a lot of people have asked me what I want to be when I get older (as most high school kids and adults do.) Unfortunately, whenever I respond by telling them that I want to teach, the usual response is something along the lines of "You don't actually want to do that. It's a terrible job with terrible pay!" It gets a lot worse when I tell them that I'd like to teach either English or Psychology at a high-school level. So, is it really such a bad job? Also, so that I can prove them wrong, what is the best (or a good) education/career path into teaching at a high school level? Thank you so much!

[saphosticated]

Big brain your textual analysis in English class. The characters do not just run amuck in the story. The author uses them for a purpose to convey meaning to the responder.

[theyuniversity]

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